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GA-EX38 v P35; Patriot v Corsair XMS2; Spinpoint F1 v 'cuda

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Hi - long time lurker, first time poster.

I am upgrading my current PC from the ice age. I previously had a Duron 1200MHz with 1GB RAM and a GeForce Ti4200. I have been using my girlfriends sister's pc for a while now, but she wants it back. The budget is tight (~$1000 sans graphics card).

I have a 24" Samsung 244T monitor (thank you work!) that I would like to make the most of, the keyboard, mouse, DVD burner, and X1550 already. I will be buying a new Radeon 4850 when it comes out (an X1550 will make do for a few months until then). I mostly play RTS (Company of Heroes etc) and do a little bit of photoshop. I will be using XP, but may play with ubuntu or vista down the track.

Here are my questions:

1. Should I go for the X38-DS4 motherboard or just stick with the P35. I would save $100, but give up two PCIe 2.0 slots for one PCIe 1.0 slot and a few USB ports (which I would use). Will the Radeon 4850 max out the PCIe 1.0 slot? Onboard sound is not an issue as I am buying an Asus Xonar D2 (or D2X...) which I hope to output to home theater once I get that (another story).

2. Which RAM? I plan on overclocking the E2160 to around the 3GHz mark. The FSB shouldn't hit 400MHz. The Patriot RAM is tempting as it is cheap cheap with the rebate and seems to have good reviews. :D 

3. Spinpoint F1 or should I go for the Seagate Barracuda? Reliability is more important to me than speed.

4. PSU ok or non-crossfire edition for the P35? Should I drop down to a ~600W PSU and save some $?


My component selection is below:


Intel Pentium E2160

*GA-P35 or GA-EX38

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

*Corsair XMS2 2x2GB or Patriot Extreme Performance 2x2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820145194
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820220227

Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Crossfire Edition) EPS12V 750W Power Supply
ASUS Xonar D2

*Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB or Seagate Barracuda 750GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822152100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148298


Thanks!

More about : ex38 p35 patriot corsair xms2 spinpoint cuda

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Okay for general puposes, this is what I'd get to save $ and still have a kicka$$ system for the $.
CPU - $70
e2160 that you have selected! Good choice on a budget.

CPU HSF (if wanted) - $37 shipped!! Not much more than the ACF7 Pro, but performs much better. You will be able to OC quite well and keep the temps down.
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Frosty's review of the s1283
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=223...

Mobo - ~$100 or ~$130 for the bigger siblings! About $100 savings!!
Gigabyte DS3L/Abit IP35-e/Asus p5K se mobo's or bigger siblings would do too.

Memory - $103 - $15 MIR = $88!! CAS 4 stuff, which will help you out when you OC your CPU!
Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Case - $85 shipped! One of the best cases to get, you did your homework on this selection!!!
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Mid Tower Case Retail
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?Product...

PSU - $89 - $10 MIR = $79!!! One of the better PSU's to get in this price range. Has 41A on the 12V rail, so you can power any single GPU out there. 5 yr. warraty and power efficient. Need I say more?
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W Active Power Supply Retail ***Free Shipping***
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?Product...
or
for a little more (52A on the 12V rail!!!): $110 - $20 MIR = $90!!!
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC, CCC - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

HD - $130 shipped! One of the better faster HD's out on the market. Has had good reviews and might be a bit better than the Samsung F1 you selected.
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Total so far ~$615 - $25 MIR's = $590!! Now I'd probably wait for the Intel price cuts, which should be real soon, before I buy the CPU. If they fall down well than I'd probably consider getting the q6600 (hopefully falls below $200). Still use the CPU HSF that I listed above and enjoy the quad power at 3 gHz!!! This build above leaves about $400 for your new GPU in a couple of months, so you can decide if you want to wait for the newer GPU's or just get a 8800gts (g92) now or just save you $ for later. You would have the budget now for it, with about $150 to spare! :) 

1. It's a preference for some to get X38/48 for overclocking yorkies. You're overclocking allendale, and even a P965 mobo will do the job. P35 would be the most I'd get for this gig.

2. The Allendale maxes out at around 3.5ghz stable. The e2160 is x9. So:

9 x 400 = 3.6ghz

Any cheap 800mhz ram will be ok.

3. Go with Seagate.

4. For a single gpu pc, a brand name 450w will suffice. 500w is a sweet spot.

Narwhaleau
Good homework but try to get a better HSF either xigmagtech or thermalright.
For your purpose a P35-DSL would be fine or a ASUS P5K-E for better inclusions.
Any DDR2-800 ram will do 2GB would be fine unless your doing heavy photoshop
Both hard drives are about the same so go for the cheapest.

Thanks everyone!

I have changed the HSF to the Xingmagtech HDT-S1283, the board to the P35-DSL, the RAM to the Patriot Extreme Perf. and switched to the Seagate HDD. Since I am not buying a SLI board, I also changed the PSU to the Corsair 650W.

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC, CCC - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Last question - will this be enough to run SLI if I upgrade the motherboard, GPU(s) and CPU in the future or will I need a new PSU at that time?
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